How to Quickly Remove AI Features From Chrome, Edge, and Firefox
Tech companies are getting more and more insistent with their big language models: Prominent buttons for these AI features cover every surface designers can think of, including in three of the most important browsers: Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
If you want these AI features to go away and stay away, there is a script for that. JustTheBrowser is a free and open source tool from tech developer and blogger Corbin Davenport that removes AI features, telemetry data reporting, sponsored content, product integrations, and other annoyances from Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Basically, you can run it once and never think about these features again.
To get started, go to the JustTheBrowser homepage. There are scripts to copy (which I won’t include here in case they change in the future).
Credit: Justin Pot
Windows users will need to run PowerShell as administrator. The easiest way to do this is to right-click PowerShell in the Start menu and click “Run as administrator”. There is a different script for Mac and Linux users: just copy it into a standard terminal.
In any case, you will be asked for which browser you want to update the settings: just tap the number corresponding to what you want to do.
Credit: Justin Pot
In my testing, the process was very simple on Windows: just click on the number and the script will do its job. On macOS, I had to follow a few instructions to enable a policy setting in the Settings app, which only took a few clicks. After that, Chrome was free from any references to AI.
What do you think of it so far?
Credit: Justin Pot
A number of other features are also gone, including those annoying prompts to change your default browser.
The way it works is quite interesting: it uses features aimed at large organizations. Basically, all major browsers allow group settings, which allows IT to control what you can and cannot do with your browser. Among these settings, there are those allowing you to disable AI functionalities.
This is a nice workaround and one that will hopefully continue to work. There’s always a chance that browser companies will make it so that even IT departments can’t disable AI features, in which case we’ll all have to find a new solution (or switch to an alternative browser).
